March 2, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday Eve.

March 2, 1903: In New York City, the Martha Washington Hotel opens, becoming the first hotel exclusively for women.
March 2, 1962: Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors scored 100 points in a game against the New York Knicks, an NBA record that still stands.  Go to article » 

1899: Mount Ranier National Park established.
1925: Highway numbers introduced.

Theodore Geisel, “Dr. Seuss”, b.1904.

Ex-Navy pilot says he saw UFOs that did things his plane could not do.  Watch this former Navy fighter pilot tell CNN about his unit’s experience with a UFO in 2015. He also shared video of the encounter.

Guy Savoy, lauded as world’s best chef, loses Michelin star.  His renowned restaurant in Paris received some sour news that it’s been downgraded to two Michelin stars.

Japan just found 7,000 islands it didn’t know it had.  With an incredible discovery like this, it’s no shocker that several territorial disputes are already underway.

‘Stranger Things’ is coming back — as a stage play.  Nerds, assemble! Fans bracing themselves to say goodbye to “Stranger Things” after its final season are getting excited about this London stage play

The Great Pyramid of Giza has a hidden corridor.

‘Unreal’ auroras cover Earth in stunning photo taken by NASA astronaut: When seen from Earth, auroras are nothing short of dazzling. But it takes an astronaut’s-eye view to truly appreciate how vast and spectacular these light shows really are.
“Absolutely unreal,” NASA astronaut Josh Cassada tweeted Feb. 28 alongside a gorgeous photo of green auroras swirling around Earth’s far northern latitudes. Cassada snapped the image from the International Space Station, which orbits about 250 miles (400 kilometers) over Earth on average. Full Story: Live Science (3/1)

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

New Delhi, India
The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, inspects a guard of honour during her ceremonial reception at the forecourt of India’s presidential palace, Rashtrapati Bhavan
Photograph: Altaf Hussain/Reuters

Los Angeles, US
The Hollywood sign stands in front of snow-covered mountains after another winter storm hit southern California
Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Copenhagen, Denmark
The Little Mermaid sculpture, an emblem of Copenhagen and Denmark, has been vandalised with the addition of a painted Russian flag
Photograph: Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for March 2nd, 2023

Market
Index
Close Change
Dow
Jones
33003.57 +341.73
+1.05%
S&P 500 3981.35 +29.96
+0.76 %
NASDAQ  11462.98 +83.50
+0.73%
TSX 20337.21 +77.43
+0.38%

International Markets

Market
Index
Close Change
NIKKEI 27498.87 -17.66
-0.06%
HANG
SENG
20429.46 -190.25
-0.92%
SENSEX 58909.35 -501.73
-0.84%
FTSE 100* 7944.04 +29.11
+0.37%

Bonds

Bonds % Yield Previous % Yield
CND.
10 Year Bond
3.474 3.409
CND.
30 Year
Bond
3.323 3.266
U.S.   
10 Year Bond
4.0556 3.9925
U.S.
30 Year Bond
3.9935 3.9570

Currencies

BOC Close Today Previous  
Canadian $ 0.7363 0.7358
US
$
1.3581 1.3591
 
Euro Rate
1 Euro=
Inverse
Canadian $ 1.4412 0.6939
US 
1.0610 0.9425

Commodities

Gold Close Previous
London Gold
Fix 
1841.25 1824.60
Oil
WTI Crude Future  78.16 77.69

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1844, the New York Stock Exchange raised the initiation fee for new members to $400 (or well over $10,000 in modern money).
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 0.4%, or 77.43 to 20,337.21 in Toronto.

The move was the biggest gain since Feb. 13.
Royal Bank of Canada contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.9%. Kinaxis Inc. had the largest increase, rising 5.3%.
Today, 112 of 236 shares rose, while 117 fell; 5 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.

Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 4.9%
* So far this week, the index rose 0.6%, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended Jan. 27
* The index declined 4.3% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 10% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 8.4% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 13.8% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.7% in the past 5 days and fell 1.9% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.8 on a trailing basis and 13.1 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.24t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 7.59% compared with 7.52% in the previous session and the average of 8.46% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | 38.7386| 1.1| 25/12
Industrials | 27.3242| 1.0| 14/11
Materials | 18.3997| 0.8| 16/33
Information Technology | 11.0517| 0.9| 11/3
Utilities | 2.8005| 0.3| 10/5
Real Estate | -0.4312| -0.1| 11/10
Health Care | -0.4534| -0.6| 2/5
Consumer Discretionary | -1.3187| -0.2| 8/7
Consumer Staples | -2.5916| -0.3| 3/8
Communication Services | -4.2655| -0.4| 2/4
Financials | -17.5140| -0.3| 10/19
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
RBC | 24.9300| 1.9| -9.7| 7.0
Nutrien | 19.1300| 5.0| 32.6| 13.5
Canadian National | 12.6600| 1.9| 29.1| -0.4
Tourmaline Oil | -6.5850| -4.8| 84.6| -10.6
Bank of Montreal | -8.7030| -1.4| -34.7| 4.9
TD Bank | -27.6000| -2.4| 65.2| 0.9

US
By Vildana Hajric and Emily Graffeo
(Bloomberg) — US stocks closed Thursday’s session higher, reversing course after Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said the central bank could be in a position to pause rate hikes sometime this summer. Treasuries dropped, with yields across the curve piercing 4%.
Traders ditched their low-conviction moves toward the middle of the trading day, pushing the S&P 500 to jump the most in more than two weeks.

The Nasdaq 100 also jumped as investors considered Bostic’s comments somewhat dovish.
Both indexes shrugged off the losses they suffered earlier after data signaled continued resilience in the labor market, supporting the case for the Fed to keep raising rates.
The policy-sensitive two-year rate climbed for a third straight day, its longest rising streak in two weeks.

A dollar index clung onto gains.
While Bostic’s remarks boosted sentiment on Thursday, other central-bank officials in recent days have reinforced their hawkish rhetoric.

Bostic too pledged to let the incoming economic data guide him, a stance shared by Boston Fed’s Susan Collins.
Fed Governor Christopher Waller also said that he’ll support raising rates even more than his current outlook if payroll and inflation data don’t cool as expected.
The focus now is on how much higher interest rates might go in the US and Europe, with swaps markets pricing a peak Fed policy rate of 5.5% in September, and some traders even betting that the benchmark interest rate could rise to 6%.
“Markets are now appropriately pricing in higher inflation and the impact higher interest rates will have on the economy,” said David Spika, president and chief investment officer of GuideStone Capital Management. “So what we saw in January and really going back to October was the markets were incorrectly interpreting a pivot, lower inflation, the Fed was going to stop raising rates, a soft landing — all of that was misguided and now the market is accurately pricing in, alright, the Fed is going to have to keep raising rates.”
Earnings continued to trickle in on Thursday.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. rose in late trading after giving a strong forecast for the current quarter.
One of the world’s biggest chipmakers, Broadcom Inc., presented a robust forecast while Nordstrom Inc. boosted its outlook for annual profit.
Silvergate Capital Corp. ended Thursday’s session at a record low as it raised questions about its own survival.
Investors should expect data to continue to be mixed even as inflation comes down, according to Chris Harvey, Wells Fargo’s head of equity strategy.
“We’re in a good situation where the economy has not cracked,” he said on Bloomberg Television. “Ultimately we are going to get to a lower level of inflation, but 2% I think is more aspirational than anything else.”
Sarah Hunt of Alpine Woods Capital Investors also said that some of the impact of the Fed’s persistent rate hikes may not be seen just yet.
“I do think that there are parts of the economy for which those changes don’t happen so quickly,” she said on Bloomberg Television. “Wall Street is so used to focusing on the quarters that we lose sight of the fact that wage negotiations don’t happen every time the Fed changes rates, it happens once a year or once every couple of years depending on the industry.”
Meanwhile, data on Thursday also showed euro-area inflation slowed by less than anticipated and underlying price pressures surged to a new record, heaping pressure on the European Central Bank to drive up rates further.

ECB interest rates are now seen rising above 4% and German benchmark bond yields traded above 2.7%. 
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.8% as of 4:02 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.9%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1%
* The MSCI World index was little changed

Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.4%
* The euro fell 0.6% to $1.0599
* The British pound fell 0.7% to $1.1950
* The Japanese yen fell 0.4% to 136.74 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 0.4% to $23,455.9
* Ether fell 0.8% to $1,644.63

Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced seven basis points to 4.06%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 2.75%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 3.88%

Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.3% to $77.96 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,842.80 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Cecile Gutscher, Sujata Rao, Isabelle Lee and Alice Atkins.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. –Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, 1918-2013.

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

 

March 1, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
March 1, 1998: Titanic becomes the first film to gross over $1 billion worldwide.
1974: Former Nixon White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman and former Attorney General John Mitchell were indicted on obstruction of justice charges related to the Watergate break-in.  Go to article » 

1872: Yellowstone National Park established.
1961: Peace Corps established

11 minutes of daily exercise could have a positive impact on your health.  Too busy to fit a full workout into your day? A new study shows just 11 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous daily activity can lower your risk of diseases.

Ancient Roman ‘spike defenses’ made famous by Julius Caesar found in Germany
In 52 B.C., Julius Caesar used an ingenious system of ditches and stakes to defend his soldiers from an encroaching Gallic army in modern-day central France.
More than two millennia later, archaeologists have discovered the first preserved example of similar defensive stakes, which likely protected an ancient silver mine. Full Story: Live Science (2/28)

Jupiter and Venus ‘kiss’ in a stunning planetary conjunction tonight. Here’s how to watch.
On Wednesday (March 1) and Thursday (March 2), two bright planets will appear as if they were about to collide in the night sky.
Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, and Venus, one of the brightest objects in Earth’s sky, will come within about half a degree of each other — or roughly one full moon’s width apart. Full Story: Live Science (3/1)

Otherworldly ‘fairy lantern’ plant, presumed extinct, emerges from forest floor in Japan
Scientists in Japan have rediscovered an extremely rare species of parasitic “fairy lantern” that was presumed to be extinct. The mysterious plant, Thismia kobensis, belongs to a rarely seen, fungus-sapping genus. The plants grow underground without photosynthesis yet send translucent flowers to sprout like ghostly lanterns from the forest floor. Full Story: Live Science (2/28)

Man lost at sea survives on ketchup. -Mark Gilbert
Wait, is King Charles evicting Harry and Meghan?

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Planica, Slovenia
Japan’s Yoshito Watabe in action at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships
Photograph: Borut Živulovič/Reuters

Dubai, UAE
The artist Refik Anadol launches Glacier Dreams, an immersive installation, at Art Dubai 2023
Photograph: Cedric Ribeiro/Getty Images for Art Dubai

Tokyo, Japan
A white-eye bird on early-flowering cherry blossoms in full bloom
Photograph: Issei Kato/Reuters
Market Closes for March 1st, 2023

Market
Index
Close Change
Dow
Jones
32661.84 +5.14
+0.02%
S&P 500 3951.39 -18.76
-0.47 %
NASDAQ  11379.48 -76.06
-0.66%
TSX 20259.78 +38.59
+0.19%

International Markets

Market
Index
Close Change
NIKKEI 27516.53 +70.97
+0.26%
HANG
SENG
20619.71 +833.77
+4.21%
SENSEX 59411.08 +448.96
+0.76%
FTSE 100* 7914.93 +38.65
+0.49%

Bonds

Bonds % Yield Previous % Yield
CND.
10 Year Bond
3.409 3.330
CND.
30 Year
Bond
3.266 3.201
U.S.   
10 Year Bond
3.9925 3.9239
U.S.
30 Year Bond
3.9570 3.9189

Currencies

BOC Close Today Previous  
Canadian $ 0.7358 0.7329
US
$
1.3591 1.3645
 
Euro Rate
1 Euro=
Inverse
Canadian $ 1.4497 0.6898
US 
1.0666 0.9376

Commodities

Gold Close Previous
London Gold
Fix 
1824.60 1818.65
Oil
WTI Crude Future  77.69 77.05

Market Commentary:
📈 On March 1, 1935, the first U.S. savings bond (Series A) was issued after Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau observed that the U.S. lacked a government savings plan like those of France and Britain.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.2% at 20,259.78 in Toronto.

The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.2%.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.1%.

Capstone Copper Corp. had the largest increase, rising 7.1%.
Today, 141 of 236 shares rose, while 92 fell; 3 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.

Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 4.5%
* The index declined 3.5% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 9.1% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 8.8% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 13.4% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.3% in the past 5 days and fell 2.4% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.2 on a trailing basis and 12.7 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.23t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 7.52% compared with 7.57% in the previous session and the average of 8.63% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | 58.3986| 1.7| 39/0
Materials | 49.7265| 2.1| 48/2
Industrials | 9.2223| 0.3| 13/13
Health Care | -1.8201| -2.3| 1/6
Communication Services | -3.9434| -0.4| 1/5
Consumer Discretionary | -4.5559| -0.6| 5/10
Consumer Staples | -4.8738| -0.6| 6/5
Real Estate | -5.6830| -1.1| 1/20
Utilities | -6.3567| -0.7| 5/11
Information Technology | -28.4769| -2.3| 6/8
Financials | -28.7648| -0.4| 16/12
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points| | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move |% Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian Natural Resources | 12.5500| 2.1| 48.0| 4.7
Franco-Nevada | 10.3000| 4.5| 49.7| -1.4
Bank of Nova Scotia | 8.2360| 1.5| 90.4| 3.2
Constellation Software | -8.2680| -2.6| -25.8| 10.4
Shopify | -13.4900| -2.9| -23.9| 16.0
RBC | -47.3600| -3.6| 44.0| 5.0

US
By Peyton Forte, Angel Adegbesan and Isabelle Lee (Bloomberg)
US stocks dropped for a second session as investors revisited their wagers on peak rates after economic data highlighted persistent inflationary pressures and Federal Reserve officials continued to sound hawkish.
The S&P 500 closed the day at its lowest level in nearly six weeks.

The Nasdaq 100 dropped to its lowest since January 30.
Both indexes stayed firmly in the red for most of the session after a gauge of manufacturing improved for the first time in six months.
Investors balked at prices-paid measures also rising.
Treasury yields remained higher, with the 10-year rate piercing the closely watched 4% level.

Fed swaps are now pricing in a peak policy rate of 5.5% in September, with some traders betting that the benchmark interest rate could reach 6%.
A dollar index the most since February 1.
Among individual movers, Salesforce Inc. soared in late trading after signaling that it’s making progress in its efforts to boost profitability this year.

Lowe’s Cos., after forecasting a decline in sales, fell the most since Sept. 13 during regular trading.
Dollar Tree Inc., which also reported earnings, climbed the most in a month.
Investors are awaiting updates on Tesla Inc.’s investor day.
Investors remained cautious on Wednesday after Fed officials reinforced their hawkish stance on Wednesday.

Atlanta Fed’s Raphael Bostic called for continued rate hikes to above 5% to make sure inflation doesn’t pick up again.
Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, meanwhile, said he’s concerned that there isn’t much of an indication that the central bank’s rate hikes are slowing down the services sector.
“The markets crossed the fine line between expectations and wishful thinking,” said Deborah Cunningham, senior portfolio manager at Federated Hermes. “But investors checked that fantasy within the shortest month of the year. Indeed, change can come quickly after acceptance.”
Julian Emanuel, chief equity and quantitative strategist at Evercore ISI, says the VIX, a measure of volatility in stocks, hasn’t been the most reliable indicator of what’s happening in the markets recently.
“To say that the volatility markets have been strange for the last couple of months is maybe the understatement of the millennium here,” he said on Bloomberg Television. “And a lot of reason the truth is so difficult to discern is because of these zero-days to expiration options, which really are ruling the moves from moment to moment in the markets.”
He says the macro picture will become clearer in the coming weeks, depending on the incoming economic data.
While data showing China’s economy is on track for a stronger recovery had briefly buoyed US stock futures before markets opened, that bounce didn’t sustain during Wednesday’s trading session.
“This is a China story. This is not a global growth story,” Mike Wilson, chief US equity strategist at Morgan Stanley, told Bloomberg Television. “So yes, it’s very good for China equities and maybe some Asian economies that can, that can gear off of that. But not so much the US stock market, which isn’t that geared to China growth.”
Bonds in Europe also fell as evidence mounted that further tightening is needed to tamp down on inflation.

The latest data showed an unexpected acceleration in German inflation in February, further complicating the European Central Bank’s task after overshoots this week in other parts of the continent.
A 4% ECB terminal rate is also now fully priced with rates forecast to rise through February 2024. 
Key events this week:
* Eurozone CPI, unemployment, Thursday
* US initial jobless claims, Thursday
* Eurozone S&P Global Eurozone Services PMI, PPI, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.5% as of 4:03 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.9%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World index fell 0.3%

Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.5%
* The euro rose 0.9% to $1.0666
* The British pound was little changed at $1.2019
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 136.20 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 1.1% to $23,399.5
* Ether rose 2.1% to $1,640.26

Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced seven basis points to 3.99%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced six basis points to 2.71%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 3.84%

Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.9% to $77.74 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.4% to $1,844.80 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Vildana Hajric, Isabelle Lee and Alice Atkins.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
A problem is a chance for you to do your best. -Duke Ellington, 1899-1974.

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com